Pols mull daylight saving time options

The Sunshine State could have extended daylight saving time if one state senator gets his way.

Florida state Sen. Darren Soto, a Democrat, introduced the “Sunshine Protection Act” earlier this year that would make daylight saving time permanent year round. Why? Soto, an attorney, said that he was just tired of leaving his law office in the dark.

“From time to time, we have to look at rules and laws in our society and re-examine them to see if they still serve the purpose that we need,” said Soto, whose district is near Orlando.

He added: “We are the sunshine state and a big tourism state — it would allow constituents to have an extra hour to enjoy the beach, enjoy the amusement parks, maybe go out to the eat. So in that sense, it’s an economic issue.”

Hawaii, most of Arizona and U.S. territories don’t follow daylight saving time. But in addition to Florida, a handful of other states have also recently discussed the issue this year, including New Mexico.

Unlike Florida, New Mexico state Sen. Cliff Pirtle wants to end daylight saving time — not keep it year round — so that it would get darker sooner and people could save money by not having to turn on their air-conditioning systems.

“We change our clocks really for no reason,” New Mexico state Sen. Cliff Pirtle told POLITICO. “It’s just something that we’ve done for so long and we don’t think about why… A lot of people wish we could just leave the clock alone.”

In 2005 then-President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Policy Act, which moved the starting time for daylight saving from April to the second Sunday of March in an effort to save energy, among other things. Daylight saving was first implemented during World War I to save energy but was repealed after the war and then reinstated for World War II.

Benjamin Franklin was perhaps one of the earliest advocates of daylight saving time all the way back in the late eighteenth century, in part so that people wouldn’t have to burn as many candles.

So what would Ben think of politicos trying to change the time change?